Hi folks,
This is my first review on mouthshut.com. Please Mujhe ’jhel lena’ if you guys find me a bad writer.
OK starting with the review this fort is situated near Lonavala and is a gr8 place for one day trek.
Getting to the base of the hill:
We started off from Kalyan(52 Kms from mumbai) by Indrayni Exp which leaves Mumbai at 5.40am and Kalyan at 6.37am and reached Lonavala at around 8.15am. You have to get a connecting local train to Malvali a station next
to Lonavala. This local train leaves within 10 mins after Indrayani Exp leaves Lonavala. In case if you miss this connecting train you can get a six seater rickshaw from Lonavala to Karla Phata and then another rickshaw to Malavli stn. People coming from Pune can directly get a Local train to Malavli. From Malavli we went to Bhaje village which is the base of the hill.
The trek:
The trek is quite comfortable. A road leads up to the fort. Though the road is not at all motorable it’s quite comfortable to walk on. Even a person like me who has no experience in trekking can go there easily. You can enjoy quite a number of waterfalls on the way up during monsoon(it get dried up after monsoon). Getting underneath those falls is very exiting. Scenery is a nice treat to yor eyes during monsoon.
The fort:
There are two fort on the same hill 1)Lohagad & 2)Visapur Fort seperated only by a Kilometer and are opposite to each other. The climb to the Lohagard fort takes you to panoramic vantage points, huge balconies, doors and reminds you how important this place was which was used to defend freedom. Surrounded by lakes on all side the views from the fort are breathtaking specially from vinchu kata (Scorpion’s tail). The entrance to the fort is through a gate. The fort has 4 successive entrances or Darwajas, the Ganesh Darwaja, the Narayan Darwaja, the Hanuman Darwaja and the Maha Darwaja. You can have a good veiw of the surrounding lake and a dam called Pawna dam while climbing on to the top of the fort. On reaching top of the fort you can have a exhilarating veiw of all sides. There is a well, a temple and some tombs on the top of the fort. The experience in the monsoon is quite nice with clouds moving through your body and the winds are very chilly. We gad to dring a few cups of tea at regular intervals to keep ourselves warm. Sometimes the cloud cover was so thick that it was impossible to veiw after 20-25 feet. We were not able to visit Visapur Fort due to exhaustion and I’m planning to visit it in October. There is also a rock cut caves called Bhaje caves. There are footsteps going to these caves from the foot of the hill.
Overall it was a very nice trip for me. Some of the problems I encountered was of availablity of foods. Mostly you have to satisfy yourself with junk foods. Though some meal is available like Jhunka Bhakar you have to give a advance order a preparation takes a lot of time and is quite expensive for the quality of food u get.
Recommendations:
1) Best time to visit is during monsoon
2) Take mineral water and carry some food if possible.